Part Two: Arrival

I decided not to splurge on a cab ride and dragged my fifty-pound bag about ten blocks to the 6 subway line. On the subway, I saw six beers rolling around on the seat across from me, one upright and open. At 7 a.m., this was mysterious…until a drunk guy appeared out of nowhere and began drinking the open beer. He tried to hit on the nurses sitting next to me, who responded by asking him which mental hospital he’d escaped from. A guy across the way hid the remaining beers, but the drunk guy was too out of it to notice. Then the nurses exited the train, so he sat next to me. Great. I forcefully ignored him. He kept dozing off, occasionally falling toward me. Each time he did, I leaned away and managed to make it off the train without any creepy drunk guy contact.

Then came the hard part: dragging my bag up two flights of stairs at rush hour. I nice man in a suit offered to carry my bag up the stairs: “You don’t have to—it’s very heavy.” Guy, slightly offended: “I can lift it!” Me (apologetically): “Oh, well, thank you!” See, I was being all Midwestern and by not wanting to burden a stranger and he was being all New Yorkery by thinking I was insulting his manhood. Heh. It was sprinkling on my seven-block walk to Jenny’s apartment, although the worst part was dragging my bag up to the fourth floor.

Finally, I made it and took a nap with Jenny’s kitties. Jenny is so sweet to let me stay on her couch. The price of admission is feeding them and scooping the kitty litter if Jenny’s not around and fawning over them when she is around. Hee. You people know I love pets, but I’m a pet enthusiast. Jenny is a pet mommy. Her cats are giant and sweet and very pretty, but their hobbies include prodigious shedding and clawing things (like the wall or my suitcase). Heh.

I woke up after 11 and went grocery shopping, then had lunch. I was a little stir-crazy, but felt no desire to tromp around New York I met up with Laura for a bit of shopping at, of all places, Forever 21. Normally I avoid that place like the plague, but it wasn’t too crowded and I managed to find a cute dress and top in my wee price range. Then we got to meet up with her fiancé Ryan for a few minutes. He’s loving the teaching fellows and his new band. Then Laura and I went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, La A’nnam, where we enjoyed scallion pancakes and talked ourselves into splitting a bottle of wine.